DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray examine Kim Wayans' run of music parodies on "In Living Color" and trace how her characters critiqued the treatment of Black women in pop music while making audiences laugh. The conversation covers her castmate collaborations with T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh and Kim Coles, her parody of Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman," her Vanessa Williams sketch tied to the singer's ousting from Miss America, and her Tracy Chapman bit that doubled as commentary on the music industry's demand for repeat hits. The hosts also revisit her film appearance in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and the "Rhythmless Nation" sketch aimed at Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, arguing Kim Wayans used impersonation as a tool of cultural observation rather than mockery.
00:00 Intro Theme
00:16 Introduction: Celebrating Kim Wayans
04:29 The Salt-N-Pepa Parody: Cook It
06:54 Quick Transition
06:55 Crystal Waters Parody: My Songs Are Mindless
11:05 Vanessa Williams Parody: Kiss My Ass
13:23 Tracy Chapman Parodies
16:32 Quick Transition
16:33 Whitney Houston & Janet Jackson: Rhythmless Nation
20:03 Kim's Respect for the Artists She Parodied
21:56 I Love LaQuita: The Lucille Ball Parody
24:09 Transition
24:15 Kim Wayans' Scene Stealing Appearance: I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
29:03 Shoutout to Anne-Marie Johnson
31:10 Quick Transition
31:11 Closing Thoughts & Call to Action
33:42 Outro Theme
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Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
Sir Daniel:I am DJ Sir Daniel
Jay Ray:And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government
Jay Ray:as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
Jay Ray:And Sir Daniel, we are about to take a little detour outside of
Jay Ray:what we normally do, but it is squarely within what we normally do.
Jay Ray:This is about
Sir Daniel:Listen, it's a fun detour.
Sir Daniel:It's a funny detour
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:I have long said we've talked about this particular show as being so
Sir Daniel:culturally relevant to Black culture and to music just as, uh, just as, uh, Soul
Sir Daniel:Train, just as much as Soul Train, Yo!
Sir Daniel:MTV Raps.
Sir Daniel:It is just as important.
Sir Daniel:And this also, um, signifies this family des- um, dy- this family dynasty
Sir Daniel:of comedy, which includes, and I've always said this, you can quote me
Sir Daniel:on this, the funniest Wayans ever, in my opinion, you can argue with
Sir Daniel:your mom and your dad, is Kim Wayans.
Sir Daniel:Hands down, Kim Wayans is the funniest Wayans of the whole family, and she has
Sir Daniel:kept us in stitches for decades, Jay Ray
Jay Ray:I, that I agree.
Jay Ray:It's, I agree that she's kept us in stitches for decades.
Jay Ray:I f- I really would love our audience to weigh in.
Jay Ray:Like, Sir Daniel just made this provocative statement that Kim
Jay Ray:Wayans is the funniest Wayans.
Jay Ray:Who do you think is the funniest Wayans siblings?
Jay Ray:You weigh in and let us know.
Jay Ray:But Kim is definitely high up there because, and we'll get
Jay Ray:into this tonight, she is iconic.
Jay Ray:Like, she will have these many parts that become the cultural touchstone,
Jay Ray:so we'll get into that in a second.
Jay Ray:Before, I do wanna mention that one of our podcast cousins, They Reminisce
Jay Ray:Over You, has a great episode on the history of In Living Color.
Jay Ray:So if you want to go and check that out, definitely go and listen to their episode.
Jay Ray:You will enjoy it.
Jay Ray:Also, we discussed on this show, this is maybe three years ago now, with,
Jay Ray:um, about the importance of how In Living Color basically started the
Sir Daniel:Super Bowl
Jay Ray:Bowl
Sir Daniel:halftime show.
Sir Daniel:What makes Kim Wayans, as I said, the funniest Wayans,
Sir Daniel:is her complete dedication to going balls to the wall for it.
Sir Daniel:There is a reckless abandon that you have to have in order to do
Sir Daniel:comedy, especially when you do, um, what they call a… She has, there's
Sir Daniel:a b- she has a very big physical,
Jay Ray:Shit
Sir Daniel:aspect to her comedy, whether it's throwing herself around
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:or by, like playing LaQuita and, you know, arching her body and, and,
Sir Daniel:and sh- and having a stretchy face and, and exaggerating her, um, expressions.
Sir Daniel:Uh, LaQuita, you know, those things, she does that and she has
Sir Daniel:no, there's no boundaries to her.
Sir Daniel:She does, she completely unleashes everything that she has into
Sir Daniel:these caricature, caricatures of a lot of people that we've grown
Sir Daniel:to know and love culturally.
Sir Daniel:And I've always believed that everybody that she's ever, um, impersonated on
Sir Daniel:the show, that she had a lot of respect for them and she had a lot of love for
Sir Daniel:them, and which wasn't always d- which always didn't come across, and we'll talk
Sir Daniel:about that in, with a specific artist.
Jay Ray:Yeah
Sir Daniel:one of the first, when I think about it, one of the first episodes,
Sir Daniel:few episodes of In Living Color where we first see Kim Wayans dive into, uh,
Sir Daniel:music parodies, she was, um, teamed up with Tika Crystal Lemons, which is,
Sir Daniel:which was her castmate, and the two of them together are just extra funny.
Sir Daniel:Another comic legend, comic actress legend, sitcom legend, Tika Crystal
Sir Daniel:Lemons are absolutely hilarious women.
Sir Daniel:They deserve all the flowers and the praise for the all
Sir Daniel:the stuff that they've done.
Sir Daniel:But Jay Ray, do you remember Cook It with Salt-N-Pepa?
Jay Ray:I do.
Sir Daniel:And the whole, it was, no, it was her, T'Keyah,
Sir Daniel:and, um, um, what's my girl?
Sir Daniel:The other, uh, Kimber- that was in, in Living Single.
Sir Daniel:Kim Coles, the other Kim.
Sir Daniel:So the three of them were Salt, Pepa, and Spinderella.
Sir Daniel:Kim Coles was Spinderella in the back, and she was, she was DJing
Sir Daniel:with two, I think, pots and pans or maybe, like, a, a food processor.
Sir Daniel:And Kim Wayans and T'Keyah were Salt N Pepa, and they were, like, mixing
Sir Daniel:up food in the kitchen, and they were rapping along, very well I might add,
Sir Daniel:to a pr- uh, to a parody of "Push It," but instead of "Push It," it,
Sir Daniel:of course it was called "Cook It."
Sir Daniel:"Ah, cook it." And they were talking about all types of food, dishes and whatnot,
Sir Daniel:af- at the same time being hilarious.
Sir Daniel:So I think, um, Jay Ray, I'm willing to bet that that, um, that particular
Sir Daniel:sketch probably did very well.
Sir Daniel:And they were like, "You know what, Kim?
Sir Daniel:You're a woman.
Sir Daniel:You're a Black woman.
Sir Daniel:Lean into these, um, characters that a lot of these, uh,
Sir Daniel:female performers are giving."
Sir Daniel:Especially at that time.
Sir Daniel:We're talking about 1990.
Jay Ray:Yeah
Sir Daniel:So there was an, the, there was, like, an onslaught of Black
Sir Daniel:women artists that were killing it on the charts, a handful in particular,
Sir Daniel:and they were larger than life.
Sir Daniel:So of course for a comedic actor, that's a goldmine right there.
Sir Daniel:That is so much to, so much, um, source material to work off of.
Sir Daniel:And so that's why Kim Wayans has so many great parody, um, uh, parody
Sir Daniel:songs in the In Living Color pantheon
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:No, I agree with every, with all of that.
Jay Ray:And I think the other thing, uh, about Kim that is unique
Jay Ray:is it's funny, it's not bad.
Jay Ray:Like, it's not bad performance, you know what I'm saying?
Sir Daniel:Right
Jay Ray:is purposefully exaggerated performance.
Jay Ray:And it's like, "Oh, okay, she's able to do this because she can kind of
Jay Ray:bend, uh, her voice in these very interesting ways to kind of pull it off."
Jay Ray:Sir Daniel, I think it's worth talking about a, a, a few of these
Jay Ray:performances that really, made an impact.
Jay Ray:And this one stands out for so many reasons.
Jay Ray:But the Crystal Waters parody,
Sir Daniel:Yes
Jay Ray:My Songs Are Mindless, was legendary.
Jay Ray:So
Sir Daniel:To this Jay
Jay Ray:school, to this day, so I remember in high school, I can't
Jay Ray:remember exactly when it aired on, but I remember in school us having
Jay Ray:these very intense conversations about seeing Kim Waters do this parody.
Jay Ray:Because to put this in perspective, y'all, Gypsy Woman was such a huge house record.
Jay Ray:And it's crazy to think about now, but back in the olden days, kids, in
Jay Ray:the early 1990s when house music was ascending, everybody needed a house
Jay Ray:track and, and, and they were hitting the charts, like going gangbusters.
Jay Ray:And Crystal Waters, of course, uh, came to us with Gypsy Woman, uh,
Jay Ray:which is a beautifully written song.
Jay Ray:It's like this true story.
Jay Ray:She like, you know, about an experience that she had, you know, seeing this woman,
Jay Ray:uh, this, this woman who was experiencing, uh, homelessness on the street.
Jay Ray:But we didn't have the kind of context for that song then that we have today,
Jay Ray:and it was just an easy song to parody because people with the la da dee, la
Jay Ray:da da felt like it was just kind of a throwaway series of lyrics, not really
Jay Ray:understanding the full meaning behind it.
Jay Ray:And so, uh, uh, My Songs Are Mindless, which K- Kim Wayans does a lot
Jay Ray:in all of these parodies, is kind of like exaggerating this idea of
Jay Ray:taking like real-life experiences and like putting them into the lyrics.
Jay Ray:Like, «I'm on the show with Sir Daniel. We are recording the show
Jay Ray:now. We gotta do the show now.»
Jay Ray:That's Kim Wayans.
Sir Daniel:Y- absolutely.
Sir Daniel:And like j- like you said, taking the hook and replacing la da di
Sir Daniel:da da da with ha ha hee ha ha ho, I'll be rich, you'll be poor.
Sir Daniel:I am s- you know.
Sir Daniel:And you're absolutely right because In Living Color came on on Sunday nights,
Sir Daniel:so it was fodder all morning long, Monday morning long on the, on the ride to
Sir Daniel:school on the school bus, and in first period class we were talking about you
Sir Daniel:had to have watched what happened on In Living Color the night before b- if
Sir Daniel:you wanted to be one of the cool kids involved in the cool conversation about
Sir Daniel:the funny skits that we, the funny sketches that were aired the night before.
Sir Daniel:And, um, it, and shout out to the, the production team
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:In Living Color because it's not just about her putting
Sir Daniel:on, um, a, a wig and a, a suit.
Sir Daniel:Like, they really took the time to do a parody of the video because the
Sir Daniel:video back then was just like a kinda basic white block, color block video
Sir Daniel:with dancers and s- and some, um, some graphics, and tight close-ups of Crystal
Sir Daniel:Waters' face, which made it all, which at the time was very, um, tech savvy to
Sir Daniel:us because it was like, oh, wow, this video to us kinda just came out, and
Sir Daniel:here you guys are making a parody of it.
Sir Daniel:So which meant that In Living Color really had its finger on the
Sir Daniel:pulse of, of pop culture, period.
Sir Daniel:And to your point earlier, um, about the ascension of house music, S- "Gypsy
Sir Daniel:Woman" squarely was a crossover hit.
Sir Daniel:It
Jay Ray:Oh,
Sir Daniel:it was not just bubbling in, on the house charts at that point.
Sir Daniel:That song had crossed over crazy, which made it prime
Sir Daniel:time for prime time television.
Sir Daniel:And, um, and another artist that was having a resurgence in the early
Sir Daniel:'90s as well was Vanessa Williams, and you had to remind me of this
Sir Daniel:'cause I almost forgot about this one
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:This is a very interesting one, and I feel like this, uh, crosses over into
Jay Ray:a really important piece of being a woman in, uh, pop space, and being
Jay Ray:a Black woman and being able to talk about the experiences of Black women.
Jay Ray:So one of the parodies that, uh, Kim Wayans did was, uh, a, a parody
Jay Ray:of Vanessa Williams' Save the Best for Last, which that song was huge.
Jay Ray:It changed Vanessa Williams' entire career.
Jay Ray:Vanessa Williams was having such a big moment between that song.
Jay Ray:She was in The Equalizer with, uh, with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Jay Ray:Uh, oh, no, uh, I
Sir Daniel:You know, it was the,
Jay Ray:the… What
Sir Daniel:the Eraser.
Sir Daniel:The Eraser.
Sir Daniel:Mm-hmm
Jay Ray:Uh, she was in The Eraser, and so she was having this, like,
Jay Ray:really huge Hollywood moment at that
Sir Daniel:I'm ready.
Sir Daniel:Yep
Jay Ray:but Kim did a song- did a parody of Save the Best for Last,
Jay Ray:and the song is called Kiss My Ass.
Jay Ray:Now, is this important?
Jay Ray:Because what this song is basically about is the experience of Vanessa
Jay Ray:Williams as a Black woman who had been stripped of her, uh, Miss America title,
Sir Daniel:Correct
Jay Ray:of this photo shoot that she had done.
Jay Ray:Despite all of that, and Kim sings this in the parody, "I'm now a
Jay Ray:superstar." Like, you know, 'cause at this point Vanessa's got hit songs.
Jay Ray:She's in movies now.
Jay Ray:Miss America thing is in the background.
Jay Ray:Like, she has ascended past that, and she is still to this day our Miss America.
Jay Ray:Like, do we know any of the other ones?
Jay Ray:Like, Vanessa Williams is Miss America to us.
Jay Ray:But Kim basically, Kiss My Ass is basically the F you to, uh, uh, to white
Jay Ray:America that despite being stripped of this title that y'all said I couldn't have
Jay Ray:because of this thing, I'm now signing autographs of this thing as a superstar.
Jay Ray:And it's a great critique of the treatment of women, in particular the treatment
Jay Ray:of Black women, in a comedic way.
Sir Daniel:Absolutely.
Sir Daniel:And so going back to Kim's natural ability to shape-shift and to become
Sir Daniel:the artist, this next artist, she looks so comfortable becoming Tracy Chapman.
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:Chapman at the time was… She was, so this is like, and Let
Sir Daniel:Me Clear My Throat started in 1990.
Sir Daniel:Tracy Chapman was a bonafide mega star,
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel:Grammy winner.
Sir Daniel:Fast Car was like her pinnacle hit, her signature hit song.
Sir Daniel:And so, you know, leave it to Kim to, to strip down all her makeup, to put
Sir Daniel:on a dreadlock wig and some, and some jeans and kinda, and kind of sturdy up
Sir Daniel:her, her posture You know, being, being respectful but also being respectful but
Sir Daniel:also saying, showing that, hey, you know, um, Tracy Chapman is a c- a sturdy woman.
Sir Daniel:She's a
Jay Ray:A starry woman
Sir Daniel:she's a sturdy woman.
Sir Daniel:She's a, you know, a woman of, of masculine energy.
Sir Daniel:And so, um, so, so her doing that and doing a parody of Fast song.
Sir Daniel:And, and here's another, um, Kim, Kim doing really great work at pinpointing the
Sir Daniel:ridiculousness of sometimes of pop culture
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:just picking apart the fact that this song, which was a
Sir Daniel:Grammy o- Grammy-winning song, when you listen to it, is about observation
Jay Ray:Yes
Sir Daniel:and, and it's a, it's a, it's a, a, a stream of conscious- consciousness
Sir Daniel:song that Tracy originally sings.
Sir Daniel:But the follow-up, there is another, um, uh, another, um, rutabaga.
Sir Daniel:What's the word I'm looking for?
Sir Daniel:Another rutabaga.
Sir Daniel:What Kim is doing is another commentary on the art of songwriting,
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel:and she picks apart Tracy Chapman's
Sir Daniel:songwriting, not her abilities, but the fact that Fast Car was
Sir Daniel:such a huge hit that the industry was expecting a follow-up.
Jay Ray:We need
Sir Daniel:And I… We Need Another One of Those, which is a,
Sir Daniel:a commentary on the music industry,
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:which is the m- the music industry is very much cut and paste.
Sir Daniel:Cut, copy, and paste.
Sir Daniel:We want that again, repackage it so we can have more of that, of that result.
Sir Daniel:And the, the, the, the sketch finds Tracy Chapman in her one bed- in her
Sir Daniel:bedroom apartment out in the city, just looking out the window and literally
Sir Daniel:singing the four chords of Fast Car, and s- literally singing what she's seeing
Sir Daniel:and writing it down, and she's like, "Oh, this is gonna be a hit record."
Sir Daniel:Even to the point of a woman getting assaulted in the alley, she was like,
Sir Daniel:"Oh, this is gonna be a hit," and she wrote that down and sang it too.
Sir Daniel:So, uh, once again, Kim Wayne's doing more than just slapstick comedy, but actually
Sir Daniel:holding a mirror up to society and the music industry in her sketch comedy.
Jay Ray:it's interesting that we just had two back-to-back experiences of
Jay Ray:talking about kind of the experiences of, of Black women in, in music.
Jay Ray:One of the most famous, unforgettable moments in In Living Color
Jay Ray:history is Rhythmless Nation, um,
Sir Daniel:'Cause we get a super in this one
Jay Ray:get a twofer in this one, right?
Jay Ray:So Whitney Houston this moment in time is really struggling with identity in
Jay Ray:terms of her public persona, who she is as a Black woman, because Whitney
Jay Ray:Houston is a sister through and through, but her public persona as a pop princess
Jay Ray:was causing this very intense division, which has been talked about ad nauseam.
Jay Ray:If you watch any documentary about Whitney Houston, you watch any movie
Jay Ray:about Whitney Houston, she has talked about how hurtful it was to experience it.
Jay Ray:And it's interesting because, uh, this is an aside, but even within that, the
Jay Ray:one of the most hurtful nights of her experience, she also meets one of the
Jay Ray:loves of her life in Bobby Brown, so like this is all happening at the same
Sir Daniel:at the same time, yep
Jay Ray:same time.
Jay Ray:But Rhythmless Nation happens, and it is a parody of both Whitney Houston
Jay Ray:as a performer, in particular a Black woman performer that we are,
Jay Ray:that In Living Color is identifying as rhythmless, and Janet Jackson,
Jay Ray:of course, in Rhythm Nation.
Jay Ray:So you get this juxtaposition of these two Black women, uh, in pop culture
Jay Ray:and, uh, but of course the center of it all is, is Whitney Houston.
Jay Ray:And I think this was hurtful.
Jay Ray:Like Whitney has been on record, like at, you know, this was a time when these
Jay Ray:types of things were jabs taken at her.
Jay Ray:It is not the only jab that In Living Color took at her, because they did, was
Jay Ray:it Got Your, Got Your Babies Tonight?
Sir Daniel:I don't want your babies to
Jay Ray:Want Your Babies Tonight.
Jay Ray:Uh, and um, this one, funny, 'cause I'll never forget it, still remember it.
Jay Ray:I remember it being introduced, "And Rhythmless Nation," we didn't know what it
Jay Ray:was gonna be, and of course it was this.
Jay Ray:So one, this one is complicated.
Jay Ray:Super funny, but we also know that the harm that it caused behind the scenes now.
Sir Daniel:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:It, um, I often wondered, so Kim Wayans has never responded
Sir Daniel:to Whitney Houston's criticism, which probably was, you know, best
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel:because I'm pretty certain, you know, Kim respected
Sir Daniel:Whitney and Janet for that matter.
Sir Daniel:And I can't imagine that in Hollywood, Hollywood for Black,
Sir Daniel:for Black entertainers is small.
Sir Daniel:And so I can't imagine that they're not running into each
Sir Daniel:other, they're not running into or running in the same circles.
Sir Daniel:You know, or going to the Arsenio Hall Show and seeing each other at some point.
Sir Daniel:You're gonna run into each other, and I'm sure, you know, some words are gonna
Sir Daniel:be exchanged or who knows what happened.
Sir Daniel:I think that as we've said, uh, we can, what we're gleaming from these
Sir Daniel:performances of Kim Wayans, um, and her parodies of these Black women
Sir Daniel:specifically She did them with some care.
Sir Daniel:She did them with care.
Sir Daniel:Um, I think that she had to pick them specifically because they were iconic.
Sir Daniel:She would do people like Grace Jones, even though Grace Jones, the Grace
Sir Daniel:Jones parody was, had nothing to do…
Sir Daniel:Well, she did sing a little bit.
Sir Daniel:But it was very over the top and, um, and would magnify the, the masculinity
Sir Daniel:and the strength of a Grace Jones.
Sir Daniel:But Grace Jones was a powerful figure, and Kim knew that, and it
Sir Daniel:was like, "Oh, this is a p- somebody that is, people are going to respond
Sir Daniel:to in this sketch." Oprah Winfrey.
Sir Daniel:She's done, she's run the gamut of women.
Sir Daniel:Lucille Ball, I think may have been the only white woman that she impersonated.
Sir Daniel:But even that is, even that to, to Kim's genius, the fact that, um…
Sir Daniel:taking the fact that if y'all are, y'all who are probably not old enough
Sir Daniel:to remember, some of the premises, the premise of the Lucille Ball show
Sir Daniel:was that Lucille's husband, Desi, or I mean Ricky, was in entertainment,
Jay Ray:Yes
Sir Daniel:band director.
Sir Daniel:Lucy probably didn't have any talent, but she wanted so desperately to
Sir Daniel:be in the limelight that she tried every and any trick she could
Sir Daniel:to get, um, Ricky's attention
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:even his industry friends' attention to get her some type of
Sir Daniel:spotlight or some, some shine on the show.
Sir Daniel:And Lucy's parody, I Love LaQuita, was like this Compton-out, big
Sir Daniel:bangle earrings-wearing, long, uh, Shanaynay nails, hood rat, uh, in a,
Sir Daniel:in a, in a one-piece leotard suit.
Sir Daniel:And her a- her and Ethel were like, had a salt and pepper routine, and it was just
Sir Daniel:where they were beatboxing and rapping.
Sir Daniel:It just, it was, it was also, it was just Kim also tapped into the
Sir Daniel:zeitgeist because female rappers were very huge at that time as well.
Jay Ray:yeah
Sir Daniel:And a lot of her parodies were on female rappers and the importance
Sir Daniel:of, uh, and the power that female rappers were gaining at that time, so
Sir Daniel:she tapped right on into that as well.
Sir Daniel:So for, again, just giving weight to my, my earlier statement that Kim Wayans
Sir Daniel:is the funniest Wayans of them all
Jay Ray:I feel like, I mean, I think are so many… Of all the In Living Color
Jay Ray:moments, and I can say this with my whole chest 10 toes down, my favorite In Living
Jay Ray:Color moments all involve Kim Wayans.
Jay Ray:Like we just mentioned the Grace Jones, like the Grace Jones skits,
Jay Ray:uh, uh, Rhythmless Nation, you know, these, all of these skits.
Jay Ray:Uh, uh, r- was it Cephus and Reesey?
Sir Daniel:Cephus,
Jay Ray:Phus
Sir Daniel:Cephus and Resi and, um, Della Reese's Pieces when she was Della Reese.
Sir Daniel:I mean, the list goes on and on.
Sir Daniel:Lil Magic.
Jay Ray:Oh, Little
Sir Daniel:Magic
Jay Ray:So think that's really critical.
Jay Ray:And I mean, before we talk a, a bit about, um, how we came to see her the
Jay Ray:first time, 'cause I think this is really important, do wanna just note,
Jay Ray:um, what me and Sir Daniel are talking about is squarely within Black tradition.
Jay Ray:She's telling a joke, right?
Jay Ray:But she's offering clever critique indirectly, right?
Jay Ray:So it's like saying the thing without saying the thing.
Jay Ray:It's a little ironic.
Jay Ray:It's a little teasing.
Jay Ray:It's a lot of storytelling, but what we're trying to do is we're really making deep
Jay Ray:cultural critiques about what's happening in our culture and in the world overall.
Jay Ray:And so, um, whether she was trying or not, um, she was doing this, and she
Jay Ray:continues to do this thing that, uh, is really important to Black culture.
Jay Ray:the first time we see Kim Wayans, this is her first film, okay?
Jay Ray:Kim Wayans is in her brother's, uh, film.
Jay Ray:Before we get into, to her moment, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is really important.
Sir Daniel:Yes
Jay Ray:Keenen Ivory Wayans and Robert Townsend are at the, uh,
Jay Ray:the, the foundation of kind of the new Black r- film renaissance.
Jay Ray:So this is happening in the mid-1980s.
Jay Ray:Uh, in 1987 we get Hollywood Shuffle, which, uh, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Jay Ray:co-writes with Robert Townsend.
Jay Ray:It's a Robert Townsend film.
Jay Ray:That very next year we get Keenen Ivory Wayans' I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
Jay Ray:Um, and so this is, uh, 1988, and it stars Keenen Ivory Wayans and a Bernie Casey.
Jay Ray:Shout out to Bernie Casey, who is a, a film, a Black movie legend.
Jay Ray:And it's basically a parody of, of a, uh,
Sir Daniel:the blaxploitation films
Jay Ray:the Blaxploitation films kinda rolled up into one.
Jay Ray:Um, and it's super funny, but there's a moment in the picture Where we
Jay Ray:get introduced to the lounge singer.
Jay Ray:This person ain't got no name.
Jay Ray:Like, their name in the credits is Lounge Singer.
Jay Ray:But Lounge Singer is played by Kim Wayans.
Jay Ray:Sir Daniel, what is this lounge singer doing?
Sir Daniel:First of all, it, let's do the, when you see the opening
Sir Daniel:shot of, um, Bernie and, um, Kenan walking into the bar, making
Sir Daniel:their way to the, to the counter.
Sir Daniel:No, making their way to a, a, a s- a table,
Jay Ray:Well, they
Sir Daniel:they sit down
Jay Ray:You were right, they go to the counter first, then they go to the table.
Sir Daniel:And they go to a table.
Sir Daniel:You can hear Kim first before you see her.
Sir Daniel:And, uh, and so when they sit down, their order, they're getting their order, which
Sir Daniel:is funny in and of itself because Bernie orders a, a Jack and Co- a Jack, uh,
Sir Daniel:uh, just a whiskey or something strong.
Sir Daniel:Whereas Kenan's character is such a, you know, is, is such a choir boy,
Sir Daniel:he order, he orders a double Coke
Jay Ray:A double Pepsi,
Sir Daniel:A double Pepsi.
Sir Daniel:A double Pepsi, right.
Sir Daniel:Sorry, Coke.
Sir Daniel:It was a double Pepsi on the rocks.
Sir Daniel:Was it on the rocks or was it d- yeah.
Sir Daniel:And the waitress is like, you know, "Oh, big man, double Pepsi." And so while
Sir Daniel:they were talking and g- getting their order taken, they are interrupted by
Sir Daniel:the caterwauling, and that's the best word that I can call it is caterwauling,
Sir Daniel:of the lounge, this lounge singer that is doing the absolute most.
Sir Daniel:And the song that she's singing is "When the Saints Go Marching In." And
Sir Daniel:they finally cut to the stage where Kim Wayans, a young Kim Wayans, is on
Sir Daniel:stage going as I s- she, again, from the very beginning, going for it 100%.
Sir Daniel:Foolishness.
Sir Daniel:She is stretching her face.
Sir Daniel:She is singing all these, drawing out all these notes.
Sir Daniel:At one point, she ends up on the floor rolling around and getting wrapped up in
Sir Daniel:the microphone cord, and I believe she even falls off the stage at one point.
Sir Daniel:And, and K- and, um, Keenan's, Keenan and Bernie's characters are like, "Who
Sir Daniel:the hell is that?" As far as like, "Who is the s- who is that?" To, to
Sir Daniel:the waitress, and the waitress is like, "Oh, that's the director's sister."
Sir Daniel:So we get this fourth, the breaking of the fourth wall moment, and she,
Sir Daniel:they look at, they both look at, at Keenan, and then Keenan kinda looks at
Sir Daniel:the camera breaking the fourth wall.
Sir Daniel:And then we just get this really great comedic moment where Kim
Sir Daniel:Wayans doesn't even really have lines, but she stole that scene.
Jay Ray:whole scene.
Sir Daniel:That whole scene was absolutely hers.
Sir Daniel:That is her scene, and that's the only time she shows up in this movie,
Sir Daniel:and you remember it to this day.
Sir Daniel:If you have not seen I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, if it's on streaming, you really
Sir Daniel:must take a, take the time out to watch the entire movie because a lot of those,
Sir Daniel:first of all, a lot of the people that were in the movie are no longer with us,
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:it's just a g- it's just great satire, um, parody filmmaking that is just
Sir Daniel:truly comedic, a little over the top, but just good, wholesome fun, great jokes.
Jay Ray:Yeah
Sir Daniel:before we end, but I know we're about to wrap up, but I can't,
Sir Daniel:Jay Ray, I cannot talk about this, this lounge scene without giving flowers
Sir Daniel:to another amazing comedic actress
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm
Sir Daniel:absolutely is a scene stealer in these, in these next, um, uh, uh,
Sir Daniel:sequences, and that is Anne-Marie Johnson
Jay Ray:Baby, that woman right there
Sir Daniel:That,
Jay Ray:big one
Sir Daniel:she is comedic gold.
Sir Daniel:You re- if you grew up and you went and you spent a lot of time at your, at your
Sir Daniel:mema's house, your gran- your nana's house, your grandma's house, and you
Sir Daniel:watched television with grandma, then you were watching In the Heat of the Night.
Sir Daniel:She was in In the Heat of the Night.
Jay Ray:yes.
Sir Daniel:She was in
Jay Ray:wife.
Sir Daniel:Virgil's Wife.
Sir Daniel:She was in What's Happening Now.
Sir Daniel:She w- Rogers' Wife.
Sir Daniel:She was playing, always playing somebody's wife.
Sir Daniel:And she stole, she was a scene stealer in, um, in Living Single, where she
Sir Daniel:got her wig caught in the, in the door.
Sir Daniel:Iconic scene
Jay Ray:moment.
Jay Ray:Iconic
Sir Daniel:So Anne Marie, so what I'm saying is Anne Marie
Sir Daniel:Johnson is, she's comedic gold.
Sir Daniel:She's, she's a mainstay in Robert Townsend's, um, canon
Sir Daniel:of, um, um, uh, HBO specials.
Sir Daniel:Anne-Marie Johnson, of course you, if you're a fan of this movie, you know
Sir Daniel:that she is the voluptuous sex siren wearing the very hot red leather outfit.
Sir Daniel:She sticks out like a sore thumb in the night lounge.
Jay Ray:With
Sir Daniel:And she, with the, with the big volume, voluminous hair, very
Sir Daniel:tight, juicy, got you crazy suit.
Sir Daniel:And, um, so she and Keenen Wayans have a very, very iconic, very legendary scene
Sir Daniel:about, oh, I don't know, about 12 inches some- of something, and of things, and you
Sir Daniel:just have to go and see it for yourself.
Sir Daniel:But I just, I just wanna take that moment.
Sir Daniel:Thank you, Jay Ray, for allowing me to take this moment to give
Sir Daniel:Anne-Marie Johnson her things because she's so hilarious to me.
Sir Daniel:She's just, between her and Kim Wayans, they stole that movie.
Jay Ray:You know, um, glad we had this conversation.
Jay Ray:I think this is really important that we… Black music is within
Jay Ray:every piece of our culture, right?
Jay Ray:There's really nothing Black folks touch that doesn't in some way involve music.
Jay Ray:Um, it is one of the things that has empowered the civil rights movement.
Jay Ray:It's part of our, our way of communicating with one another, right?
Jay Ray:So Kim, Kim Wayans is that girl.
Jay Ray:You know what I'm saying?
Jay Ray:And, you know, she definitely told some important stories in what she was doing,
Jay Ray:but, you know, and she made us laugh, and I think that's really, really important.
Jay Ray:So glad we spent some time honoring our sister.
Sir Daniel:That's the most important part.
Sir Daniel:Absolutely, that's the most important part.
Sir Daniel:So Kim Wayans, we thank you.
Sir Daniel:Um, Kim Wayans has her own web series now, so go check that out.
Sir Daniel:So if anything, go check out why Kim Wayans is the comedy GOAT and the, the
Sir Daniel:GOAT of the Wayans family, in my opinion.
Jay Ray:Yeah,
Sir Daniel:my humble opinion
Jay Ray:listen, I, I, listen, let us know.
Jay Ray:Y'all, so first of all, couple calls to action.
Jay Ray:Let us know what y'all think.
Jay Ray:Who do you think is the funniest Wayans?
Jay Ray:Um, so Daniel says it's Kim.
Jay Ray:Who do you got?
Jay Ray:Um, we also have a playlist of Kim Wayans parodies, uh, that you can check
Jay Ray:out on YouTube, so definitely do that.
Jay Ray:But thank you all for hanging out with us.
Jay Ray:If you can see our faces and hear our voices, go ahead and
Jay Ray:subscribe wherever you are.
Jay Ray:Visit our website, um, at queuepoints.com.
Jay Ray:You can do a ton of stuff over there.
Jay Ray:Watch the archive of Queue Points episodes, become a member, check out
Jay Ray:our blog, um, and hang out with us.
Jay Ray:We have a ton of stuff that we do, uh, outside of this particular
Jay Ray:show, and you can get access to all of that on our website.
Jay Ray:Uh, visit our store, uh, at store.queuepoints.com, and, you
Jay Ray:know, just keep hanging out with us.
Jay Ray:We appreciate y'all and we love y'all
Sir Daniel:We certainly do, and like I say at Rutabaga, we certainly do,
Sir Daniel:and like I say at the end of every show, in this life you have a choice.
Sir Daniel:You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play.
Sir Daniel:I am DJ Sir Daniel
Jay Ray:And my name is Jay Ray, y'all
Sir Daniel:And this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the
Sir Daniel:needle on Black music history.
Sir Daniel:We will see you on the next go-round.
Sir Daniel:And I ain't one to gossip, but you ain't heard that from me.
Jay Ray:heard that from me.
Jay Ray:Peace, y'all.
Sir Daniel:Peace, y'all.